Places & Concepts in Our Stories

In my stories, I mention places, names, and concepts without always explaining them; I am driven by the belief that all places are equal, and that in them, life as it's known anywhere does happen. And if it's not familiar to some readers, it is still life in that story. I feel no obligation, therefore, to explain that Mazvihwa is a place near Zvishavane, which is a town in the Midlands of Zimbabwe. I will let a story about a Jakove, a Mukomberi, or a Sithole unfold, and expect the right reader to enjoy the story, or at least experience what Jakove experiences.

But, in several workshop environments in the United States, there have been some cases of readers failing to make sense of a story because it has a name like Chimanimani in the first sentence, or lately, "Why didn't we know in the first sentence that SRB means Strong Rural Background?" etc... oh, then I sometimes will give characters names like Mai Vanji, Mukoma Chakuti: "What's that?" Of course, most serious readers often understand that a writers need not give a glossary of Murehwa just as they don't have to define Conney Island; it's a setting,therefore it is....

What does all this mean? Imagine the person who is put off by a name of a setting or a person being an editor or an agent, or a reader for a potential publisher of your book? I feel that readers can do better than this....

In the meantime, let your stories shape themselves in the most natural way possible, unbidden by the unfamiliarity of some readers to the places, concepts, names in them. One day, such stories will find their readers, and that day can come sooner than you think.....

Comments

m said…
good point mukoma. i feel like a story, regardless of cultural specifics, can be accessible to all just on the basis of human "language". names and references and stuff might be complex, but the humanity of the piece has to grab the reader. that being said, some readers are plain arrogant and ignorant, and consume literature/art just to see themselves mirrored in there. this doesn't mean i'm letting the writer off the hook. some writers are just plain special too. yes, write your story, but be gracious enough to take care of the reader. don't be an encyclopedia, just say, feel this. you are right about the workshop experience, it can be pretty tough especially if you have a different audience in mind and different reading "audience." the thing is to find a balance, and sometimes reader and writer have to meet somewhere.
June 22, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Emmanuel Sigauke said…
Well said, Mkha. I like the idea of meeting half-way; both reader and writer have to practise art responsibly.
June 22, 2009 at 8:07 PM
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